From the recording Everything Else Was Noise
A Small Still Voice
“A Small Still Voice” is about the gentle ways comfort can find us after loss.
This song sits on a front porch under a Tennessee sky, listening for thunder and answers, but finding something quieter instead. The cedars, the firefly by the yard, the hush after the storm, and the cardinal in the apple tree all become small signs of mercy when grief is still fresh and the heart is reaching for what Heaven now holds.
The cardinal carries a special meaning in this song. Many people see cardinals as messengers from loved ones who have passed on, and here that belief becomes part of the song’s quiet comfort — not a loud answer, but a tender reminder that love has not vanished just because someone has gone on ahead.
At its heart, “A Small Still Voice” is about faith arriving softly. Not with a great shaking of the earth, but with the quiet reassurance that some goodbyes are not forever, even when they hurt like they are.
This is a song about grief, grace, and the small signs that remind us love is still living, even from the other side.
— Lane Alan Dumser
Lyrics
I sat out on the front porch
Watching the sky pass by
Clouds were moving easy
Across that Tennessee sky
I kept listening for thunder
For some answer rolling low
But the cedars only whispered
What my heart already knows
Some goodbyes ain’t forever
They just hurt like they are
And love don’t leave the living
It shines from somewhere far
There was a firefly glowing
By the edge of the yard
Like a little piece of Heaven
Still shining through the dark
Sometimes the thunder rolls
Sometimes the rain comes down
Sometimes Heaven shakes the panes
And turns a hard heart ’round
But tonight He came gentle
In the hush after the storm
With a small still voice saying
Child, she’s safe and warm
Today a cardinal sat quiet
In my apple tree
Red as Sunday morning
Just starin’ straight at me
I know she’s safe from hurting
I know she’s free from pain
But part of me still reaches
For what Heaven holds today
Yeah, I hear her love still living
In a small still voice